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Somewhat surprised that no one is joining in. I thought after the feasting that is Thanksgiving, I would have one or two takers.

Also, slightly worried that I might be turning into a crazy-fasting person, and that's why no one else is posting.

This is my fourth day. Tomorrow will be uncharted territory. Some relief from my issue, but not the complete relief I am hoping for. I will persevere, though. I don't want to stop too soon. Yesterday I had the somewhat crazy idea that perhaps
I should do three to five days from the cessation of pains. But first they need to CEASE! We'll see.

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Looked up my last fast. 87 1/2 hours. I am at 105 right now. Starting on my fifth day. I have been trying not to look ahead too much, strictly trying to make it through the day at hand. Pleased that I have gotten this far.

I had some hunger incidents yesterday. Mostly prompted by seeing or smelling food opportunities. The REAL food in our house does not seem to set me off in the same way that fast food advertisements do. I guess those marketing people really know how to push our buttons.

My breath and mouth feel just nasty, from ketosis and/or detox, I guess. I have been brushing my tongue and teeth like a madwoman, and I did some oil-pulling followed by a salt-water gargle this morning.

Still no dizziness or extreme fatigue. This is fine by me! I like to think that my body is just doing fine, pulling from fat storage. And hopefully, getting deep into autophagy, fixing up all the little things that need fixing. And the big ones.

No improvement in the pains, which is disappointing. I will give it the full try, though.

That's all for now.

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Hey, just saw this. Awesome. I haven't fasted longer than my usual once-a-day meal style in a while. I'll bet my gut could use a break after my Dad took us out to Hibachi as "Thanksgiving". We asked for butter, but he coated the grill with something liquid at room temp, like canola or soybean *retch*, and I've been constipated for the two.5 days since! Maybe on two or three of my days off I'll give it a whirl...

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2:45pm. A little hungry. Felt a little light-headed after standing up, so I'm being careful. But I've been bending and stooping(slowly) putting in flooring, and there hasn't been a recurrence.

My mouth still feels like a pit, though. Tried some oil-pulling and salt water gargle this morning. I think I will do another round this evening. Mostly, I will avoid breathing on people.

I'm not doing this for weight loss, but as I am(in general) trying to lose weight, and am tracking my daily weight, I can't help but notice that I've gone down quite a bit. The first chunk I considered just my Thanksgiving bloat. The next bit, a normal post-Down Day drop. But now I am into uncharted territory. Perhaps I will end up a few pounds lighter from all this, after I get my water weight back. Not a fun way to lose weight, though. I vastly prefer ADF.

Numbers, for those who are interested:

163.5 11/26 Before Thanksgiving, after a Down Day
166.0 11/27 Before Thanksgiving, after an Up Day
166.5 11/28 Thanksgiving Day
169.0 11/29 Pie Party Day
172.0 11/30 First Fasting Day- there's the result of the PIE!
167.5 12/1 Second Fasting Day
166.0 12/2 Third Fasting Day- back to a normal weight after two days of fasting
164.0 12/3 Fourth Fasting Day- another normal weight
161.5 12/4 Fifth Fasting Day- haven't been this low before

I've been drinking 8-12 glasses of distilled water each day. Sleep has been my normal amount. Not extra tired at night, waking up with the same ease.

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Made it through my fifth day. Now I need to decide if I am going to continue. I will wait to see how my symptoms progress through the day.

Reading some fasting literature and accounts to keep me amused while I do this. I have always broken my fasts with sashimi before. Those were shorter fasts, though. I'm trying to figure out if I should go for the traditional high-water fruits and vegetables instead. Maybe that plus a little raw fish for my second or third feeding.

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Woke up very early this morning(4 am) after only seven hours of sleep. 8-9 is the norm for me. But I felt alert, so I got up. Been paying attention to see if I feel draggy, so I can get in a nap. The one thing I want to avoid is going to sleep earlier. I already have a bedtime of 9 pm. Any earlier, and I will feel like I am in grade school.

In any case, no tiredness yet. I could almost wish for some, as I am dealing with a tricky part of this floor I am laying. Any excuse for a break!

Read an interesting thread this morning about a man who tried a long fast for his sexual dysfunction, and had good success. Amazing where links can lead you. Also, as the board was almost exclusively male, interesting to see the difference in chat styes from a male and female forum.

Feeling good about my decision to go longer. Not much hunger today.

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I'm thinking of fasting in the new year to cleanse the Xmas period - plus I'm on some medication which needs to be taken with food but hoping to be off early in new year. This will be my first ever cleanse. I'm using it for weight loss (trying to shift this stubborn stomach and also to cleanse my insides)

Whats peoples views on Master Cleanse? Or feel free to recommend the best fasting style to do. I'd like to do a 3-5 day fast

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I have only done water fasts, so I have no opinion on juice or master cleanse. One thing I have found very helpful for the water fast is to be low-carb/fat-adapted before you begin. It makes the hunger much less, and I believe it is the reason I have not had any headaches, extreme light-headedness, or even fatigue.

We lost our power due to the storm, so I am continuing my fast, kind of by necessity. I want to break it with some specific foods, and they are just not possible to prepare easily with no power/extreme cold. So, I may be making this a nine-day fast.

Disappointed that the fast has not magically cleared up my pains. It has done some other stuff, which I will post about when I can be on the computer for longer(at the library right now).

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Also thank you for the diary like entries on your fast and how it's going. I find it very interesting and exactly what I'm interested in. I'm thinking of doing a multi day fast in the new year so this is very help ful

Best of luck

UK PBer

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Still no pwer, but I broke my fast yesterday. A neighbor who has power let us cook at their house. I will post details when I have power back at home (library right now) but the general gist is I ate moderately, and it went well.

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Now that I have the leisure and electricity to type, here's how my fast went:

I had my last food on Friday, Nov 29th, about 8pm.

The first day of fasting I had a little 'hunger', most likely from sugar/insulin swings, since Friday I ate a lot of PIE. Otherwise, I am low- to moderate-carb. After the first day, the hunger was not difficult at all. I would get hungry occasionally, it would pass, and that would be it.

Most of my desire for food was intellectual and social. I would see something, think, 'that would be good' and want it. But I wasn't hungry.

I had no dizziness to speak of. Maybe twice, after standing up quickly. And not even hang-on-to-something dizziness, but more like a head rush.

No fatigue, either, which I was surprised by.

A troublesome aspect was how gross my mouth felt after a few days in. I must have been in heavy ketosis. It was really nasty. I was brushing, and gargling, and oil-pulling. I finally resorted to a breath spray, just so I felt I wasn't going to be knocking people over.

The fast was complicated by our home losing power early on Friday, which lasted until late on Monday. My options for amusing myself were radically reduced. I couldn't even sit and knit/read/craft/play cards, as it was too cold to keep ones hands out from under the covers for long. It is so easy to turn to food for amusement, but i managed to mostly resist. But it was a BORING time.

We went out for several meals during the power outage, and I always just had warm water to sip. I found it easy, and enjoyable, but my husband felt strange eating while I 'couldn't'. I told him I could, I was just choosing not to/wasn't hungry, etc, but it still bothered him a little. Strange, because we both do ADF, and he was very sympathetic for me when I have had similar problems with a house-guest. But I guess it is different when it is YOU.

I think I would have broken my fast earlier, if we had had power. But I couldn't make the particular things I wanted very easily, so I delayed. Had my first food on Sunday morning at 8am. The length of time from last meal to first was 204 hours/8.5 days.

The food I broke my fast with was 1 1/2 pears, spread over about six hours, and then 12oz cod fried in ghee. After that, I just ate normally.

The long fast was much easier than I thought it would be, even after having done several 3-4 day fasts.

It does not seem to have cleared up the symptom I was doing it for, at least in the short term. I will be observing to see if it has any long-term effect that I can see, but I probably won't report back to this thread about it.

It did seem to do a couple of other things in/for my body, though. The skin is INCREDIBLY soft. (My Honey verifies this- it is not just my imagination.) A finger I broke last year started to ache for about a day, then stopped. Wondering if this might have been some area-specific autophagy. It really puzzled me as to why my finger would suddenly start aching, until I remembered the past breakage.

And, of course, the poundage. I did not do this to lose weight. I am fine with my present weight-loss progress(going down about a pound per week.). But I am wanting to reduce, so I notice these things. And am hoping some of it stays off.

My weight before Thanksgiving:166.0
After Thanksgiving:172.0
After fast:157.0
After three days of eating again:161.5

I am now resuming my regular eating(ADF), so I am calling it as a 4.5 pound reduction over the 8.5 days. I did not take my measurements just beforehand, or anything like that, as I am not really interested in the fast that way.

I would definitely do it again, either for symptom relief, yearly autophagy, or a spiritual exercise(might like to do it while spending quiet hours in nature during nicer weather!]) During the fast I enjoyed going online and reading other peoples' accounts, information and studies about fasting, etc. Was interested to find there are fasting retreats! There's even a budget one an hour's drive from here, so I could see doing this again sometime as a little vacation from food and stress.

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I am back on normal rotations again. They are going pretty well (except for a small FUDGE incident! ). I am at 160.5 and finding the ADF to be the same as before, pretty easy.

I didn't do my measurements before the fast, but the last time I remember measuring my waist, maybe a month ago, I was at 36". Yesterday I was at 34", a nice change. If I do a long fast again, I think I will be sure to measure before and after.